


From A To Z

by hookedoncaptainswan



Category: Zoey 101, Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:28:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26805118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hookedoncaptainswan/pseuds/hookedoncaptainswan
Summary: After taking a trip home to see his family, Max returns acting strange and wanting to talk to Zoey about something... What could it be?
Relationships: Zoey Clarke & Max Richman, Zoey Clarke/Max Richman
Comments: 16
Kudos: 19





	From A To Z

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so for anyone who has seen the Nickelodeon show Zoey101, typicalaveragefangirl and I agree that we totally get Zoey/Max vibes from Zoey & Chase (lots of Zoeys, it’s confusing I know). There was an episode where Chase had a girlfriend who was very controlling and she basically tried to manipulate Zoey out of his life and I just had to write a Clarkeman version. I am going to say this is around the same time as the beginning of season one of ZEP, but Mitch’s PSP hasn’t progressed quite that far yet so he can still talk. 
> 
> When you see the double line, the POV is switching from Zoey to Max and vice versa!
> 
> Story inspired by Dan Schneider. Characters belong to Austin Winsberg.

Zoey had had a long day at work. First Joan had mentioned that there was an open position as the fourth floor manager of engineering. Then she introduced a new team member, Amber, which would normally be great if she wasn’t already having to compete for the promotion with _how many_ of the brogrammers. (At least there was finally another female coder on the fourth floor, maybe Tobin would ease up on Zoey with his misogynistic crap now that she wasn’t on her own.) Then, just as they almost had the SPRQ Watch ready for presenting, Joan told them about a glitch with the heart monitor feature that they had to figure out _immediately_ or as Joan put it, “someone is gonna lose their job, and it won’t be me.” 

Amber seemed nice enough. Although with everything that had happened today, there hadn’t been much of a chance for Zoey to get to know her. Max seemed pretty happy to have her on board though. He had been acting strange since he returned from visiting his parents and he hadn’t really explained why, but Zoey had chalked it up to his dad giving him a hard time again.

Now though, after the day she’s had, Zoey was happy to be home with her family for their weekly dinner. Max had joined them for their weekly dinners ever since the SkySPRQ crisis of 2016 when their drones kept crashing so Zoey and Max had had to work through dinner and Maggie offered to feed them both; after that, it became an open invitation. So it was no surprise when he walked through the door 20 minutes after Zoey (he had to feed his cat, Ollie, otherwise they would have just driven together). 

“Max! It’s always wonderful to see you.” Maggie went to hug him. “How was your trip home?”

“It was… eventful, that’s for sure. Actually, that reminds me. Zoey, can we talk?”

“Sure Max, talk!”

“Uh, privately?” He ventured cautiously. Just as Zoey opened her mouth to respond, David shouted from the backyard.

“Hey there, Max! Listen, we have a grilling emergency and I need your help.” Max looked to Zoey and then back to David. “Please?” He pleaded. 

“Yeah, alright, I’ll see what I can do.” With another glance, Max followed David outside. 

“That was weird. What do you think Max needed to talk to me privately about?” Zoey wondered aloud to her parents.

“Gee, I wonder.” Mitch joked.

“Yes, whatever could it be?” Maggie retorted.

“Okay, am I missing something?”

“Zoey, sweetie, do you really not have any idea what he wants to tell you?” Maggie asked gently.

“Should I?” She asked, only getting sympathetic glances from her parents. “Will you guys stop looking at me like that and just tell me please?” Maggie and Mitch looked at one another before Mitch answered her.

“Kiddo… he probably wants to tell you how he feels about you.” When he realized that Zoey still didn’t understand, he continued, “That he loves you?” 

“ _ Loves me _ ?” Zoey exclaimed, before lowering her voice. “Loves me.” She repeated. “You guys think Max, my best friend who is in our backyard this very second, loves...me?”

“Oh not just us kiddo, everyone knows it.” Mitch remarked.

“And just who is ‘everyone?’” Zoey questioned.

“David, honey, can you come in for a second?” Maggie requested.

“Yeah what’s up?”

“Blank loves Zoey. Fill in the blank.”

“Max. Everybody knows that. Well, everybody but her of course.” David said, winking at his sister.

“Thanks honey, that’s all.”

Her parents both looked at her with their parental “I told you so” faces that she is all too familiar with. 

“Max  _ doesn’t _ love me. Not like  _ that _ anyway. How many times do I have to remind people that we are  _ just friends _ .”

Knowing that this was a losing battle and they would not be able to convince Zoey, Maggie and Mitch relented. Maybe she would believe it when Max told her himself.

Unfortunately, Zoey and Max weren’t able to get a moment alone until he was driving her to her apartment after dinner. It was killing Zoey not to know what Max wanted to tell her, but she wanted him to be the one to bring it up so she remained silent until they arrived at her place. 

Being the gentleman he is, Max walked her to her door.

“Thanks for bringing me home. Goodnight Max.” Zoey waved as she turned to walk into her apartment.

“Hey Zoey! Actually before you go in, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Oh yeah, you said earlier you wanted to talk. What’s up?” She asked, nonchalantly.

“Well um, you know how I said my trip home was eventful? Well some stuff happened with my parents and that got me acting strange.”

“Yeah, I noticed you haven’t been fully  _ here _ since you’ve been back. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine! That isn’t the only thing… um… while I was home I ran into a friend from high school and well you kinda met her today…”

“You know Amber?”  _ So that’s why they were hanging out—they’re already friends! That makes so much more sense _ . 

“Yeah, she’s kind of.. Well I mean, she  _ is _ …” He was really struggling to say whatever he’s trying to say here.

“She’s what? She’s… really pretty?  _ Oh my god _ , Max! Do you  _ like _ Amber?”

“Amber is my girlfriend!” He spit out.

Zoey stood there with her eyebrows raised and jaw slack, trying to regain composure. Sure Max having a girlfriend from back home wasn’t surprising persay, but why was it so hard for him to tell her? He’d been home for two weeks already! 

“Wow... um--”

“I know I should have said something sooner, and I meant to I  _ swear _ , but I didn’t know how and I wanted you to meet her first and--”

“Max! Rambling is kind of my thing,  _ breathe _ .” Was she reminding him to breathe, or herself? “That’s great, I was just a bit caught off guard by the way you nearly shouted it” Zoey nervously laughed, hoping she was making at least  _ one  _ of them feel better right now. 

“Right. I’m…  _ so  _ sorry for how that came out.” He grimaced.

“I didn’t really get to talk to her much today though, maybe the three of us could go to lunch sometime this week?”

“That’s a great idea! We’ll go tomorrow.”

“Sounds like a plan. Well, it’s been a  _ long _ day and I have a feeling we have a few of those coming up if we don’t figure out this glitch fast. I’m gonna go straight to bed”

“Good idea, I’m beat too. I might even skip flossing.” Max joked. “Night Zoey.”

“Night Max.”

* * *

The next day Max, Amber, and Zoey all went to lunch together on their break. At first they were talking about work and the glitch and trying to figure out what the heck could be wrong, but they decided they should try and talk about  _ anything _ else instead. 

“I’m going to get some refills, do either of you want anything?” Max offered, but both ladies shook their heads no.

“So Zoey, Max has told me  _ all _ about you!”

“Let me guess, all bad things, right?”

“Anything  _ but _ ! You guys met at SPRQ Point right?”

“Yep. Five years ago, almost to the day! He was the only person who  _ wasn’t _ put off that a woman was smart enough to be on the team.” Zoey said with the shake of her head.

“Yeah, I’ve been getting that vibe from pretty much all of those guys. That Tulbin guy has said some pretty derogatory things about women…”

“Ah, yes.  _ Tobin _ .” Zoey corrected.

“Oh, my bad.”

“No,  _ please _ call him Tulbin to his face. It would make my week! Anyway, we haven’t  _ quite _ pinpointed his issue but he definitely has some issues with the female gender as a whole. Don’t take it personally.”

“Honestly I commend you for dealing with this for five years, I was over it within five hours.”

“I just learned to tune them out, and having Max around always helps too.”

“My ears are burning, what wonderful things are you saying about me?” Max said as he returned. 

“Zoey and I were just talking about the guys on the fourth floor and how you’ve looked out for her. That’s my man, always coming to the defense of others!”

Zoey averted her eyes as Amber kissed Max on the cheek.  _ Why did that make Zoey so uncomfortable all of the sudden? _

They all continued talking until they had finished eating and went back to work, still with no clue on how to fix the glitch.

* * *

When they got back from lunch, Joan sent Amber down to HR to fill out some final paperwork and while she was gone Max went over to talk to Zoey.

“So…?” He prompted.

“So…?” She mocked.

“So, now that you’ve had a chance to really talk to Amber… what do you think?”

“She’s really nice, but with you dating her I didn’t expect anything otherwise. And I like not being the only girl working on this team anymore.”

“Good. You’re my best friend and she’s my girlfriend and… I don’t know, I just really want the two of you to get along.”

“Well I think we do, so rest assured.”

Max just smiled, and Zoey smiled back, feeling uneasy again for some reason...

* * *

It didn’t take long for Zoey to figure out why she had been feeling so off the past couple of days. Turned out she and Amber weren’t going to get along so well. After work Max and Amber were going to dinner so he offered to pull his car around front to pick her up at the front door. While he was gone, Amber wanted to chat with Zoey.

“Good work today, Amber. We are  _ so _ close to finding the glitch I can just feel it.”

“Thanks! Wow, I love your denim jacket, did you decorate it yourself?”

“HA! I wish. No I chose the patches, but my mom ironed them on for me. I’m such a klutz, putting me in the same vicinity as an iron would  _ not _ end well…. So you and Max are going to that italian place down the street, right?”

“Yeah, we are! He says it’s the closest thing to our favorite restaurant back in New York, so it should be great… Speaking of Max, you guys are…  _ really close _ , huh?”

“Oh yeah, Max is the best friend I have  _ ever  _ had.”

“Yeah, well… not anymore.” Amber stated, with a serious look on her face.

“I’m sorry…  _ what _ ?” Zoey wasn’t quite sure she heard correctly. Amber had just done a complete 180 on her personality.

“Stay away from Max.”

“I don’t… what are you talking about?”

“Don’t be coy. You and I both know there’s only room for one woman in Max’s life. You said it yourself that he’s been in your life for five years here in San Francisco, you’ve had your chance.” 

Zoey scoffed. “Okay, I don’t know who you think you are, but--”

“I  _ think _ I’m Max’s girlfriend, and you’re not. So  _ stay _ away from my boyfriend. Are we clear? Good.” Zoey just stood there in shock for the second night in a row. “Well, there he is. Gotta go, toodles!” Amber chirped, as if their conversation hadn’t just happened.

* * *

* * *

Over the next couple of days Max noticed Zoey was acting strange. Anytime he asked her to go to lunch with him and Amber, she declined with the excuse of focusing on the glitch. When he asked her about movie night, which was meant to be the following evening, she cancelled saying she needed to go home to see her dad. Max understood because his health had been declining faster lately, but when he messaged her on slack to ask her what was wrong he saw her face change when she read it, and then he  _ watched her _ ignore him. 

He wasn’t really sure what was going on, maybe he was just reading into things but suddenly it was like he and Zoey weren’t communicating anymore---  _ they aren’t communicating _ !

Suddenly Max realized what was wrong with the heart monitor for the watch so he stood and gave orders to the brogrammers, Amber, and Zoey. By the end of the day he had solved the glitch, and the team had fixed the problem completely! 

* * *

Joan had called Max into work early, which honestly kind of terrified him. Not for long though, since she was offering him the promotion!  _ He had to tell her! _ Wait, but which ‘her’ did he want to tell so urgently? Whatever, he wants to tell both of them and it just so happens that one of them was getting off the elevator at that very moment.

“Zoey!”

“Oh, um.. Hey Max.” Her sullen tone contrasted with his excitement drastically.

“You’ll never believe this--- Joan offered me the manager position!”

“Oh my god, of course she did!” Max hugged Zoey, lifting her off her feet. When he set her back down though, he felt her pull away.

“Zo, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing! You kicked that glitch’s ass yesterday, it was really cool watching you take charge. I was so proud.”

“Thanks, well, I couldn’t have done it if it weren’t for you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, I mean.. We haven’t really talked much, and things have just seemed weird between us this week and I figured we just weren’t communicating and I realized that was what was wrong with the watch too.”

“Oh…”

“You wanna tell me what’s up with that?”

“It’s nothing, really. Look we should celebrate or something though, this is big news! Maybe we could do movie night tonight after all? There’s plenty of time in the evening to visit my dad and watch a movie.”

“Actually when you cancelled, Amber and I made plans…” Max saw the hurt on Zoey’s face. “But definitely tomorrow!”

“Yeah for sure, that totally works for me. Congratulations again, Max. You deserve this.” He wasn’t sure why, but Max could tell that things were still not right between him and Zoey. 

He didn’t have time to think about that though, because just then Amber walked out of the elevator.

“Hey there you are.” He kissed her.

“Here I am.” Then he dragged her into the meditation room. “Max! What is going on?”

“Guess what?” He paused. “Joan offered me the promotion to manager!”

“Joan offered you the promotion to manager?” They spoke completely in unison. “Max, congratulations! Look at my man go, you’re so impressive!”

“Why thank you.”

“It was really awesome to see you take charge of the team yesterday, I’ve never seen you so… commanding before!”

“Wow that’s so funny you say that, Zoey said something similar when I told her about--”

“You told Zoey before you told me?” Amber cut him off, clearly upset.

“Well, yeah is that bad?” He questioned, unsure of the issue.

“I can’t believe you told her first!” Max was thankful for the privacy, because Amber would definitely have been making a scene if they were in front of people.

“Well I was waiting at the elevator to come meet you in the lobby, but she got here before you did and I wanted her to hear it from me so I told her.”

“Right and you just  _ had  _ to tell her the moment you saw her, before you even told  _ me _ , your  _ girlfriend _ ?”

“Amber, it really isn’t that big of a deal. You were the first people I told and it was within a matter of minutes of one anot--”

“I don’t want you talking to Zoey anymore.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Ever. Again.” Okay, now Max was just getting pissed. 

“Amber--”

“Look, Max the brogrammers like to talk okay. Everybody knows that you were in love with Zoey.”

“ _ Everybody _ ? Well that’s embarrassing.” He mumbled, realizing his mistake and quickly amending it. “But I’m completely over that!”

“Good. Because  _ I’m _ your girlfriend now. And you just can’t be friends with a girl that you used to be in love with.”

“I understand why you’re concerned, but Zoey is my best friend I’m not just going to cut her out of my life--”

“You will if you still want to be with me. I’ll make this easy for you, Max. It’s either Zoey or me, get the picture?”

“Zoey.” Max said without hesitation.

“Excuse me?” To her credit, Amber looked genuinely shocked to hear his answer.

“Z-O-E-Y. Zoey. Get the picture?” Max grinned.

Amber shrieked as she stomped out of the meditation room. He knew he would surely get a call from his parents later asking him what went wrong, but he couldn’t bring himself to feel sorry for his decision. 

He realized now, that Amber probably confronted Zoey first which would explain why she had been putting distance between them.

* * *

* * *

Zoey ended up going home to see her dad. She told him about Max’s promotion and all of the Amber drama from this week, rubbing in the fact that Max had  _ not _ told her that he loved her and that her parents had been way off on that one. Mitch only encouraged her to not give up on Max just yet; despite Amber’s efforts to keep them apart, he was better than that. 

After having dinner with her parents, Zoey went back to her apartment and decided that she would indeed watch a movie, even if it was by herself. Just as the previews finished she heard a knock at the door. 

“Max?”

“Hey Zo, can we talk?”

“I thought you had a date tonight?” She resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she said this.

“It’s movie night, did you really think I would miss this?” He grinned, but Zoey could see there was something he wasn’t telling her.

“Well, come on in. I already chose a movie and you’re just in time-- Oh, wait! You said you wanted to talk about something?”

“Yeah… um, let’s sit.” They sat on opposite ends of her couch. “Amber has a problem with you and me being friends. But I think you already know that…”

“Yeah, Max… I know. She told me to stay away from you.”

“She pretty much told me the same today.”

“Did you explain to her that we are  _ just  _ friends?”

“I tried that. She didn’t want to hear it. She doesn’t want me to hang out with you, or..  _ talk  _ to you anymore…” Max explained. Zoey was hurt, but if this is what he wanted then she would leave him alone.

“Max, it’s okay.. I understand. I just want you to be happy so--”

“Me too.”

“Yeah, and if she makes you happy then--”

“Zoey, I broke up with her.” Zoey’s head shot up. She looked at him with wide eyes, searching for any sign that this was a lie but she found none. 

“You did?”

“Well yeah. She was asking me to choose between the two of you. Manipulation aside, you’re still more important to me. You're my best friend Zoey. Amber wasn’t who I thought she was, and I won’t let someone tell me who I can and can’t have in my life.”

“There you go taking charge again.” Zoey found that Max is really attractive when he takes control... “Anyways, I guess that explains why she was staring daggers at me all day.”

“Yeah… sorry about that.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry about this too.” Zoey punched him in the arm.

“You wound me, Zoey. No need to be violent!” Max said, rubbing his arm.

“You let me think you weren’t going to be friends with me anymore! You totally deserved that and you know it.”

“Fair enough, but you know that no one else can take your place in my life.” They just smiled at each other for a while until Max spoke up again. “Now are we gonna watch this movie or what?” And they did. 

  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Points to anyone who can tell me the movie quote I borrowed :)


End file.
